Malaysian Gelam Honey a Potential Radioprotectant Agent

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Gelam Honey Protects against Gamma-Irradiation Damage toAntioxidant Enzymes in Human Diploid Fibroblasts
Molecules 2013, 18(2), 2200-2211The present study was designed to determine theradioprotective effects of Malaysian Gelam honey on gene expression and enzymeactivity of superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT) and glutathioneperoxidase (GPx) of human diploid fibroblasts (HDFs) subjected togamma-irradiation. Six groups of HDFs were studied: untreated control,irradiated HDFs, Gelam honey-treated HDFs and HDF treated with Gelam honeypre-, during- and post-irradiation. HDFs were treated with 6 mg/mL ofsterilized Gelam honey (w/v) for 24 h and exposed to 1 Gray (Gy) of gamma raysat the dose rate of 0.25 Gy/min. Gamma-irradiation was shown to down-regulateSOD1, SOD2, CAT and GPx1 gene expressions (p < 0.05). Conversely, HDFstreated with Gelam honey alone showed up-regulation of all genes studied.Similarly, SOD, CAT and GPx enzyme activities in HDFs decreased withgamma-irradiation and increased when cells were treated with Gelam honey (p< 0.05). Furthermore, of the three different stages of study treatment,pre-treatment with Gelam honey caused up-regulation of SOD1, SOD2 and CAT genesexpression and increased the activity of SOD and CAT. As a conclusion, Gelam honey modulates the expression ofantioxidant enzymes at gene and protein levels in irradiated HDFs indicatingits potential as a radioprotectant agent.